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Friend --
It can't possibly be the end of August already,
right? I hope you've been able to enjoy summer and had a chance to
take a little break. From Ward 6 Week to some family time at the
beach, I'm feeling grateful for a little down time to enjoy our
community and recharge before a busy fall begins. I can't believe
school started on Monday. As a dad, I wasn’t sure if we had more
jitters for the start of a new year than Cora and Everett did! It's
been a while since the last newsletter, so there's a lot I want to
make sure you're caught up on that's happening in Ward 6 and across
the city.
Welcome Back to School! Monday was the first day
of school for most DC Public Schools, and some of our charter schools
began last week, while a few more open next week. As is my office's
tradition, we fanned out across the Ward to visit schools and check in
with leadership on any issues they could use our help with. The work
of improving and supporting our schools is a year-round effort, but
the first day is always an exciting opportunity to lift up all of our
teachers, staff, students, and parents who make it all possible. Here
are a few notes from opening day:
 Cutting the Ribbon on a New Maury
Elementary: Since taking office, I've made modernizing Ward 6
public schools a priority. Yesterday, after nearly two years of
construction, students had their first day in the brand new Maury
Elementary School and I am grateful to everyone who contributed to the
project. This beautiful, inspiring new building reflects the
dignity each student should feel at school and ensures teachers and
staff have the technology and infrastructure to do their best work in
the classroom.
Related: For those of you keeping track, Jefferson
Middle School is also wrapping up an exciting modernization, but
work hasn't quite finished yet. Students and staff returned to the
almost finished building on Monday, and construction will be complete
soon, well ahead of schedule!
Kids Ride Free Cards: In case you missed it, Kids Ride
Free cards for student transportation will be distributed directly
from schools this year. Last year's cards will remain active until the
end of September to ensure everyone can get to school. More
information here.
Vaccinate, Vaccinate, Vaccinate: A reminder all students
must submit a Universal
Health Certificate and Oral
Health Assessment Form, including proof of immunizations, before
going back to school. If you need more information on the 2019-20
School Health Forms or where to turn them in, this
page has answers. Please take care of your child's vaccinations
now -- it's a matter of public health and safety for all of the
kids.
PARCC Standardized Test Results Announced: The annual
PARCC test results are in and congratulations are due to the faculty,
students, and leadership at the many public schools in Ward 6 that
posted very strong scores, and especially to Seaton Elementary,
Amidon-Bowen Elementary, and Payne Elementary for making some of the
biggest gains in the city. PARCC is just one standardized test, and
that of course comes with many limitations and built-in biases that
may not reflect a school's true impact. But these results are still
one way to assess if we're heading in the right direction and I want
to be sure you
know where that information is available.
Heartwarming Profile of "Ms. Daisy" at Seaton Elementary:
As we start the year off, cheer
yourself up with this wonderful profile of Gloria Torrento Del
Cid, affectionately known as "Ms. Daisy" at Ward 6's Seaton
Elementary School. Ms. Torrento Del Cid was named School Staff Member
of the Year at DCPS's Standing Ovation Awards and in June was
presented an award for Outstanding Public Service by the Morris &
Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.
There's (finally) a Playground at Eastern Market Metro
Park! Here's some welcome news -- as the re-imagining of
Eastern Market Metro Plaza gets underway, there's a new interim
playground now open. It is called an interim playground only because
in the final designs, it will likely be moved to the northwest corner
of the same parcel and incorporate some additional items. But after
years of trying to move forward and redesign this space to serve as
something more like a town square for Capitol Hill, I'm very excited
to see a playground open to the community as a first step.
Florida Avenue is Getting Safer for All Road
Users: Over the summer, there’s been significant progress
toward making Ward 6 streets safer by slowing down vehicle traffic and
building out infrastructure to make it safer and more appealing to
travel by bicycle or scooter (even in the heat!). Most noticeable are
the temporary safety changes that are nearly complete for Florida
Avenue, NE and adjacent intersecting streets. These designs are
temporary while a permanent design is completed by DDOT -
click here to view project updates. As we debate the use of public
space, which includes our streets, it is worth being mindful that
safety is the top priority. There's
a growing body of research that shows building protected bicycle
lanes makes streets safer for everyone -- pedestrians, drivers, and
people on bikes -- primarily by encouraging slower speeds for
automobiles, which is the number one factor in the severity of most
crashes. I am thankful to DDOT, our local ANC Commissioners, and
neighbors who have made this issue a priority. If we don’t build safer
streets, we can’t expect safer outcomes. It’s as simple as that.
Ward 6 Business Leaders Meeting: Last month, my
staff brought together several Ward 6 small business owners for a
meeting on how to relieve some of the pressure on our small and local
businesses. These are the businesses that enrich and help us fall in
love with our neighborhoods. We know our local businesses hire from
the community, keep more money in the community, and do more to give
back. Yet I’m hearing over and over again from some of Ward 6’s
favorite shops that they are finding rising rents and online
competition as real barriers to success. That's why I wanted to speak
directly with some Ward 6 businesses to find out what more DC
government could be doing to help make it easier for small and local
businesses to succeed and get some reaction to ideas I've been
considering. More to come on this, but if you're a Ward 6 business and
want to share any insights, please contact Nichole
Opkins on my team.
 Constituent Services Makes Government Work a
Little Better: In the daily news cycle, the hard work of
constituent services is rarely featured. Yet I am so grateful for my
team of Jeanne,
Kimberly, Naomi, and Jen, who work hard to try to make government
work a little bit better for Ward 6 residents. The range of needs hits
everything from missed trash collections to potholes and sidewalk
repairs to DCRA issues (so much DCRA) and much more long-term and
challenging situations. In the past year, this team has helped sort
out tax issues, helped a senior couple find new affordable housing,
helped replace lost identification, worked with Capper Seniors in the
aftermath of the fire, prevented SNAP benefits from being cut-off,
connected hungry neighbors with food resources, worked to get street
signs replaced, gotten parking enforcement stepped up, advocated for
neighbors of bad actors on illegal construction, and coordinated two
city-wide job fairs -- just to name a few items. It's hard work and
invaluable, and I just wanted to make sure I took a moment to shout
out my great team. If you have an issue you need assistance with, start
here with a constituent services request.
NoMa Encampments: For residents living in the NoMa
neighborhood, the topic I hear most about is concerns about the
encampments of those who are homeless living under the underpasses of
M, L, K, and First Streets, NE. My staff and I have been working on
this issue for years, including participating in regular meetings with
the District agencies charged with dealing with homelessness,
addiction, public health, public space, and public safety as well as
the many community partners working on the same concerns. This is an
incredibly challenging situation. Our sidewalks are public space first
and foremost -- everyone should have access to them and feel safe in
passage. At the same time, the neighbors who are living in tents are
those who most need our help -- and for months or sometimes even
years, have turned down offers of shelter and other forms of aid meant
to begin a longer engagement toward a more stable situation. I agree
with many that we are at a point where the current situation is
untenable and needs to be addressed in a different way. I want to see
a solution that improves the condition of our public space immediately
and at the same time treats our neighbors experiencing homelessness
with the kind of dignity and care they need that gets them into stable
housing with intensive case management. I will continue to work with
the Mayor and District government agencies until we have a resolution
to this problem.
A Note on Re-Sentencing for Young People After Serving 15+
Years in Prison: The Council is considering a bill I
introduced that would expand on the Incarceration Reduction Amendment
Act of 2016 (IRAA), a law that’s been in effect for the last two and a
half years which allows DC residents who were convicted of serious
crimes as children or young adults to request a review of their
sentence by a judge after serving at least 15 years. Over the last two
years, I’ve led the Council to create new penalties for people
carrying extended gun clips, created new tools like our Red Flag Law
to help get illegal guns off city streets, reformed the Youth
Rehabilitation Act to fix serious problems with how the law worked,
tripled the city’s investments in violence prevention programs,
dramatically expanded protections and rights for survivors of sexual
violence, and much more. None of this work is in isolation and it’s
all aimed at creating a safer and more just city for everyone.
Tackling sentencing reform, an issue that disproportionately impacts
black and brown young people, is one more part of that overall work to
improve our city.
The existing law creates a lengthy and rigorous review by the
Courts of an individual’s prior actions and circumstances, the
perspective of victims and prosecutors, a record of rehabilitation
since the original crime, and many other factors that a judge must
consider. There has been a lot of misinformation spread about the
current law, as well as the bill now under consideration, so I
co-authored an op-ed with DC’s Attorney General Karl Racine in the
Washington Post setting the record straight on how this law works
and why the science and data support extending the law to include
anyone who committed an offense through the age of 24. I realize
issues of criminal justice reform are not easy. But we have to be able
to engage in these conversations and debates in honest dialogue with
one another, and based on facts and evidence. The individuals who may
ask the Court for a sentence review have spent most of their adult
lives in prison because they did something very serious. Their victims
or the families of their victims still live with the pain they caused.
But so far, 18 men have demonstrated decades of successful
rehabilitation and had their sentences revised under IRAA. None of
them has re-offended. In
some cases, the family of their victim has even supported their
release. Quite the opposite of re-offending, many
have dedicated themselves to
repairing the harm they caused
many years ago. It should give us all hope because we need to know
our incarceration system can rehabilitate in addition to providing
accountability. If I can leave just four points about the bill with
you to consider, here they are:
- The sentencing actions taken by the District in the 1980’s,
1990’s, and early 2000’s were part of a nationwide move to look “tough
on crime.” States around the country, including the District, have
recognized these actions didn’t make our communities safer, but they
did lead to high rates of incarceration that have had a
disproportionate impact on communities of color. Creating a review of
a sentence handed down 15 or 20 years ago helps us evaluate today if
that sentence was effective and appropriate. In some cases, it
certainly was. But in others, it may make sense to revise it. Each
case will be unique.
- Rehabilitation, even after a serious crime, is possible after
serving a long sentence.
- No release is automatic. There is no bill before the Council that
opens the prison gates. Judges will apply a high bar to granting
re-sentencing after weighing the words of victims, prosecutors, and
evaluating exams and many data points to gauge how a person used their
15+ years in prison to grow and mature from when they committed the
original offense.
- Scientific research backs this up. Based on the way the brain
develops around risk and impulse control, people under the age of 25
have a much greater capacity to rehabilitate and change than older
persons who commit a crime. This is a crucial fact for our laws to
embrace since DC has the highest incarceration rate in the country and
one of the highest worldwide.
These are some of the reasons why I support criminal justice
reforms such as opportunities for sentence reviews. As always, my
inbox is open whether you have concerns about the proposal or if you
support the bill.
On Sunday, 400 Years of African American History was
Commemorated: A number of local parks joined in a nationwide
bell ringing to mark 400 years of African American history this past
Sunday, August 25. In Ward 6, the occasion was marked at the Mary
McLeod Bethune statue in Lincoln Park and the Carter G. Woodson Home
in Shaw. The
Hill is Home was on the scene at Lincoln Park. If you're
interested in learning more, the New York Times has a phenomenal
series of essays and reporting called The
1619 Project examining African American history in the United
States 400 years after the start of slavery.
Southwest Unity Day: My staff joined long-time,
former, and new neighbors at Lansburgh Park for the annual Southwest
Unity Day -- a fun celebration featuring food, games, carnival rides,
and the chance to come together as a community, as well as come back
together for those who moved away.
The Southwest Interim Library is Now Open: DC
Public Library has opened an interim
library location in Southwest at 425 M Street, SW while the
Southwest Library begins its modernization! The modernization is a
project I worked to make happen in the past few budgets, so the
opening of the interim library is an exciting step in this process
toward opening a new, larger library in Southwest. The interim site is
much smaller in footprint, so fewer services are offered, but you
can still find programming and the holds and check outs system in
place.
Library Pop-Up in Union Station: Copying this fun
note from the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation's newsletter: In
collaboration with the DC Public Library and the Union Station , the
Union Station Parking Garage Bus Deck waiting room is now hosting a
digital pop-up library. When you wait for your bus, you can turn on
your digital device’s Wi-Fi and select Pop Up Library. While on this
network, you can see a collection of eBooks (for both adults and
children) available for streaming and downloading. We hope you will
enjoy using this wonderful resource. If you are interested in finding
more digital content from DCPL, including additional eBooks,
audiobooks, movies, music, and more, please visit dclibrary.org/godigital.
 DC Statehood Hearing on Capitol Hill:
A reminder that the Congressional hearing on a bill that would make
the District of Columbia the 51st state will be September 19 at 10 am
in the Rayburn House Office Building. Put this historic date on your
calendar and plan to join me as we pack the halls, the hearing room,
and the overflow areas with DC residents to drive home the message
that taxation without representation is wrong. For more information or
ways to get involved, check out Show
Up 4 DC, DC Vote's Campaign for the legislation.
It's Been a Very Hot August, Which Followed a Very Hot
July: The Capital Weather Gang reported we've hit our 50th
90-degree day this year, which ranks near the top so far as one of
the hottest years since record-keeping began in 1872. This comes on
the heels of finding that July
2019 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. In many
conversations I have with residents, there are often questions about
what the city is doing and what resources are available to reduce
carbon output in the face of a climate crisis. So I thought a quick
list of what's available to residents to help lower their carbon
output and improve the quality of our air and water might be helpful.
This can't take the place of major, systemic reforms such as in last
year's DC
Clean Energy legislation, but if we all made changes, it would add
up to a significant reduction:
1) Direct Pepco and Washington Gas to Power Your Home With
Renewable Energy: You can determine from where Pepco and
Washington Gas purchase the energy that powers your home by making a
switch that only takes a few minutes and will have no disruption to
your power service. If trying to go solar isn't right for your
situation, this is a great way to lower carbon output and support a
growing renewable energy market. If you're curious what your new bill
might look like, DC's Public Service Commission offers a helpful
Electric Bill Calculator. In fact, the Public Service Commission
has a
lot of great information as a consumer advocate for electricity, gas,
and telecom retail choices.
2) Solar Panels for Your Home: The District Government
offers two main ways to install solar panels that generate power for
your home and connect to the city's energy grid: 1) you can purchase
panels and receive a tax credit and you'll be able to sell any excess
energy your panels generate back to the energy grid, or 2) you can
allow a solar company to install panels on your home and take credit
for the excess energy. Either option will significantly lower your
electricity bill. This is a much more substantial investment than
other options here and one you should consider carefully, so let me
just connect you with resources that can help inform your decision.
I'll note that the federal tax credit for solar installations in homes
will decrease from 33% to 25% after this year: https://doee.dc.gov/service/solar-initiatives
3)
Turn Food Waste Into Compost for Community Gardens: I was proud
to help get DC's Food Waste Drop-off started through the Department of
Public Works. DPW has collection sites in every Ward during the
Spring, Summer, and Fall where you can bring food waste -- and a few
that go year-round, including at Eastern Market! In turn, this food
waste is used to create compost that is free to residents and
distributed across the city to community gardens. Hours,
locations, and more information here.
4) DC's Riversmart Program Subsidizes Cost of Landscaping
Around Your Home: I highly recommend looking to the Department
of Energy and Environment's Riversmart Program. This program pays
a significant portion of the cost to install everything from rain
barrels to native plants to trees on your private property. The main
goal is to lessen the amount of run-off that makes its way into our
rivers, but there's a huge benefit in adding additional trees and
greenery that literally cools off the surrounding area and absorbs
carbon. DC's amount of tree canopy is lower than where it needs to be
and we're
seeing higher temperatures across the city as a result. Under this
program, you can get trees installed for free!
5) Support
Dedicated Bus and Bike Lanes (and use them when you can): The
city has been slowly testing out creating more dedicated bus lanes to
improve headways and travel time for public transit via bus - and I
already wrote about bicycle lanes above. Transportation accounts for
roughly 25% of carbon emissions in the US. I know we need to tackle
infrastructure and make it easier to get around conveniently without
driving to every destination and this is one easy way to support that
goal. And if you are driving, please
stay out of the bus and bike lanes. Let's build transportation
infrastructure that works for everyone.
Ward 6 Week Recap and Photos! At the end of July,
we had our annual Ward 6 Week events. I was thrilled to be joined by
hundreds of Ward 6 neighbors at a Nationals game, on an evening boat
ride to check out our rivers, a special morning at the National
Building Museum, an amazing community picnic, at the library for story
time, at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, and for some trivia at an outdoor
beer garden (in the rain!). It was one of the best Ward 6 Weeks yet.
Here
are some photos from the events.
Know a College Student In DC? Bikeshare Has a Discount
Membership for Them: Passing
on this tidbit as Capital Bikeshare extends its discount program
to universities. Students could benefit with a $25 annual
membership!
How to Keep Up With Me: Just a quick reminder I
try to update constituents regularly via this newsletter, as well as
on Facebook,
Twitter
(and my
staff run a Twitter account as well with regular updates), and Instagram.
Whew, okay, that was a big update. I'm back in Ward 6 after some
vacation, and I'm excited to keep making progress and solving problems
in our community.
Charles Allen
Upcoming Events:
DC
Statehood Hearing in the House of Representatives: Thursday,
September 19, 10 am (2154 Rayburn Building)
PARK(ing)
Day: Friday, September 20
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